COOPERSVILLE, Mich. — An unknown pilot landed his small single-engine airplane on a street in Coopersville during the lunch hour last Friday, parked it at a truck stop diner, then later took off.
“I got to the restaurant to meet my dad for lunch and the plane was parked there,” said Stephanie Gilbert-Ford, a Ravenna native.
Stephanie says she and her father, Howard Gilbert, went inside 76 Diner's Coopersville location on 48th Ave and enjoyed lunch.
The pilot did the same.
Chelsie Loose, a supervisor, took his order, serving him a hot beef sandwich with mashed potatoes, gravy and shaved ribeye.
Thirty minutes later, he left.
"Didn't say much; I didn't know his name," Loose said. "He said he flew in from Muskegon."
“I saw the pilot walking back toward the plane,” added Gilbert-Ford. “I was curious as to how he was going to get back into the air.”
Stephanie went outside the restaurant, grabbed her iPhone and began shooting video. She would capture 47 seconds of the most bizarre moment Coopersville, Michigan, has seen in a very long time. The plane began taxiing behind a departing semi truck. The pilot made a quick left turn, saw there were no cars on the road, began speeding up and after zipping the length of a football field, he was back in the air.
Watch Stephanie's video here:
“This was not something I thought I would see on a Friday afternoon,” Stephanie said.
